While Africa will accommodate one billion additional individuals in 2050, 600 millionAfricans still do not have access to energy, including a majority of children.

Ten million children are born each year into a family deprived of electricity. While this demographic influx represents a real opportunity for the continent, without access to energy, these children will not be able to enjoy basic services (drinking water, education, healthcare) or fully develop their potential and liberate themselves fromthe vicious cycle of poverty. The lack of access to energy is a major challenge for Senegal.

While the country presents a 60% electrification rate, severe disparities exist between the urban and rural areas, notably owing to an imbalanced distribution of energy services. In the absence of stable, good quality energy, the collection and use of fossil fuels is very widespread, particularly the use of oil lamps. In terms of education, the low rate of access to energies impacts both the enrolment rate, the level of education dispensed, and the scholastic results of the children, since the latter are obliged to stop their studies when night falls.

Within the framework of the “Energy of Hope” programme, AMADE is promoting access to solar lamps at 10primary and intermediate schools on the Richard Toll territory and developing a “last kilometre” distribution network for access to energy by children and their families, as well as to the services associated with it, in the fields of healthcare, education, and protection.

To achieve this, a pilot phase will enable a distribution model to be tested and ratified, based on a network of energy kiosks and recharging stations for solar lamps within identified schools and will enable the impact of access to energy to be measured among the students, in terms of education, health, and protection.